Door safety latch



July 15, 1958 w. w. NETTLESHIP DOOR SAFETY LATCH Filed June 21. 1956FIG.4

FIG.2

INVENTOR. WILLIAM W. NETTLESHIP FIG.5.

United States Patent DOORSAFE-TYLATCH William W. Nettleship, Yakima,-Wash. Application June 21, 1956, Serial No. 592,815 2 Claims. Cl.292-278) This invention is a safety latch for restricting the openingmovement of a closure for a wall opening and effecting release of theclosure at manual selection.

In many structures .1 have found that doorsopen into stairwells or otherhazardous conditions, and in many instances it is impractical to swingthe door in the opposite direction. Many homes have the basement doorswinging into the stairwell, and this provides a hazard especially forsmall children who may unwittingly lean against or push against the doorand thus accidentally fall down the stairs.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a safety latchwhich will restrict the opening movement of a door to such an extentthat it would be impossible for a child to fall through the restrictedopening, and yet permit the door to open sufficiently wide so that therestricting mechanism can be manually released when it is desired tocompletely open the door for use.

To preclude the possibility of a child falling through a door opening byaccidentally releasing the restricting latch, I provide the latchreleasing mechanism on the side of the wall from which the door swings,therefore providing a very acceptable safety latch for hinged doors.

Another object of the invention lies in the provision of a safety latchfor hinged doors which comprises a minimum number of parts assembledwith facility and one which is sufficiently strong and well constructedto preclude the possibility of breakage and therefore is not liable tobecome inoperative.

These and other objects of the present invention will become apparentduring the course of the following description when considered inconjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein like numerals areemployed to designate like parts.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary vertical side elevation of a wall having anopening therein and a hinged door closure with the safety latchassociated therewith;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary horizontal cross section upon an enlargedscale taken substantially on the plane indicated by line 2-2 of Figure1;

Figure 3 is a vertical view partially in side elevation and partially incross section showing the bracket supported ways and the slidable latchmechanism associated with the latch bar, as though the door were in theclosed position;

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3 and showing the latch barreleased from the latch mechanism in full line and secured thereby indotted line; and

Figure 5 is a lateral cross section as at line 5--5 of Figure 2.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, I have shown (Figure 1)a wall having a near side 11 and (Figure 2) a far side 12. The wall isprovided with an opening 13 therein and a closure 14 for the opening. Inthe present illustration of the drawing, it is seen that the opening isa doorway having a door frame 15 shaped to receive the door or closure14 which is hinged at 16 2,843,411 Patented July 15, 1958 ice tothe doorframe. (Eonventional doorknobs 17 with the usual spring loaded keeperand plate (not shown) are provided as is well known.

An anchoring plate 18 is shown to be secured to one side face of thedoor 14 by means of conventional fastening members such as screws 19.Rigidly fixed to this tion latchmember 23 comprises apair of verticallyspaced horizontally extending way members 24 and25 which are supportedby means of a bracket 26. The upper way member 24, as is seen mostclearly in Figure 5, comprises-a pair of horizontal side by side spacedbars 27--27, while the lowerway member 25 is channel shaped in lateralcross section. A spacing bolt 28 extends through the free ends of theupper way member bars 27, thus securing them in spaced relationship. Astop bolt 29 extends through the channel shaped member 25 side walls torestrict or close the end thereof and preclude accidental removal of aslidable housing 30 from the ends of the way members 24 and 25, by meansof which it is supported for rectilinear movement.

The housing 30 is provided with a latch 31 which is pivoted on the pivotpin 32 having its ends supported in the housing 30. The latch 31, asseen in Figure 4, is adapted for pivotal movement from the full lineposition thereof to the dotted line position in which it is moved from alatch-bar-releasing position to a latch-bar-securing position.

It will be seen that with the latch 31 disposed in the dotted lineposition and with the door moving from an open position to a closedposition, the latch bar 22 will strike the curvilinear face 33 and shiftthe latch 31 toward the full line position of Figure 4, whereupon thelatch bar 22 will subsequently strike the bulbous extension 34 and forcethe latch 31 back to the dotted line position wherein the latch bar 22is confined as shown at the dotted line position of Figure 4 and thefull line position of Figure 3. The door may then continue to the closedposition as shown in Figure 2 wherein the housing 30 slides along theways 24 and 25.

A latch release mechanism, here shown to be a length of cord 35 issecured to the latch 31 and the frame 15 at opposed ends, is of suchlength that it will not tauten when the housing 30 has been shifted toits extreme outward position, as shown by broken lines in Figure 4.However, pull on the cord 35 will cause the latch 31 to pivot to thefull line position of Figure 4, thus releasing the latch bar 22.

It is assumed that the door 14, as seen in Figure 2, opens inwardly tothe dotted line position, into a stairwell or other hazardous condition.

Obviously, if the door is not completely secured by its conventionalkeeper and plate, accidental pressure upon the door will cause it topivot openly, whereupon a person may be caused to fall down a flight ofstairs. With the structure disclosed, the door may shift to the dottedline position of Figure 2 when pressure is applied thereto, but thepressure from the swinging door will not release the latch bar 22 andtherefore the safety latch will prevent accidental movement of the doorbeyond the restricted open position as heretofore described.

When it is desired to use the door and move it to the full openposition, one need only reach through the restricted opening which isdefined by the edge of the door 1. In a device for releasably locking adoor against I opening beyond a predetermined restricted open position,

7 in combination, a latch bar fixed relative to said door and extendingsubstantially parallel to a plane thereof; a bracket secured relative tothe frame of said door and having upper and lower way members extendingat right angles to the plane of said door in its closed position anddisposed to receive said latch bar therebetween; a housing slidable insaid way members for restricted rectilinear movement; a latch pivotallycarried by said housing and adapted to receive and releasably securesaid latch bar, whereby said door may freely move between its closedposition and said restricted open position; and manually operable latchactuating means adapted to release said latch from said latch bar,whereby the door may be freed to move to its completely open position.

2. A safety latch for hinged closures in wall openings comprisinginteracting locking members rigidly secured respectively to the closureand the wall; one said member being a bracket having a way therein; anormally closed releasable latch carried by said way for freerectilinear movement thereon within defined limits and adapted toautomatically receive and releasably secure the other said member duringclosing movement of the closure, Whereby to limit the movement of saidclosure to a restricted open position; and manually operable means forreleasing said latch to move to the open position, whereby the othersaid member is released therefrom.

References Cited in the file of this patent France Dec. 1, 1923

